The Belt, System offers to the public a new Teletypewriter Service. Any subscriber to this service may be connected, through the teletypewriter “central,” to any other subscriber, whether he be around the corner or across the continent. Subscribers can type back and forth by wire, for short or long periods, just as they now hold conversations by telephone.

“Suppose I get sick? After all, I’m only human. And if I do get a touch of colic … or have a nervous breakdown … do you know what’ll bring it on? Worry! Yes, sir, worrying about how long it would take us to get the doctor if anything should happen.

“Or suppose a pipe bursts in the bathroom? Or a burglar comes along? When something like that happens you don’t write a letter, or go after help on horseback. No, sir. You hop to a telephone!

Quick, easy way to keep in touch and get things done wherever you are. Convenient public telephones save you time, money and trouble.

A LIGHT IN THE DARK —More and more outdoor telephone booths are being placed at convenient locations and are available for service 24 hours a day. They supplement the hundreds of thousands of public telephones in buildings, stores, hotels, gas stations, airports, railroad stations and bus terminals.

From The 1946 Annual Report of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

1. In no year since the telephone was invented was there such a remarkable increase in the amount of telephone service furnished to the American people as in 1946. The net gain in the number of Bell telephones was 3,264,000, or more than twice the gain for any previous year. Additional telephones were installed at a rate averaging more than 25 a minute every working day.